Make no mistake about it, Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) are lobbying very hard to rally opposition against Lord Callanan's fatal motion, which, if it were passed, would kill the Statutory Instrument (SI) which transposes the TPD into UK law.
Read Dick Puddlecote's blog here for some of the history of ASH's lobbying on the e-cigarette issue, and here for some background to the motion. Also, read Clive Bates' take on the situation here.
The provisions of the SI which Lord Callanan takes issue with are those relating to the regulation of e-cigarettes, and include restrictions on tank and bottle sizes, nicotine strength, advertising and an onerous and expensive notification scheme. The nicotine strength limit alone will affect more than a quarter of a million current vapers, and many more potential switchers in the future.
Almost 50,000 vapers have signed the petition in support of Lord Callanan's motion, and thousands of letters have been sent to members of the House of Lords. However, ASH and their partners are without doubt very influential, so much more needs to be done.
If we want the voice of vapers to be heard our strength is in our numbers and our stories. Please do the following:
1) Sign the petition and ask others to do the same: Link
2) Write to members of the House of Lords, and if you already have, write to some more: Link
3) Write to your MP: Link
Finally, Conservative MEPs Julie Girling and Vicky Ford have written to EU Research, Science and Innovation Commissioner Carlos Moedas asking him to examine the latest evidence on the health effects of vaping and whether it can help long term smokers give up traditional cigarettes. Read more about that here. So:
4) Write to your MEPs: Link
Right now there are people out there in the political world trying to fight against this senseless and harmful regulation on our behalf. We owe it to them to support them in the best way we have available.
Get writing!